View full sizePenn State Athletic Director Dr. David Joyner answers questions at a TicketCity Bowl function for players at Gilley's Dallas, a famous Dallas honkey-tonk. Penn State is preparing their January 2 game with the Houston Cougars.
JOE HERMITT, The Patriot-News

DALLAS -- The buzz words for Penn State's search for a football coach?

Silent and deliberate.

Penn State acting Athletic Director Dr. David Joyner again made it clear Thursday night that the university is not in a rush to find Joe Paterno's permanent replacement.

That would explain, then, what's transpired in the seven weeks since Penn State fired Paterno, the school's iconic leader, in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

Not much.

Paterno, who turned 85 on Dec. 21 and is battling lung cancer, was fired Nov. 9. Former PSU defensive coordinator Tom Bradley is the interim head coach. He has also interviewed for the permanent job.

And despite recent rumors and reports that the six-person coaching search committee, formed Nov. 28 and headed by Joyner, was closing in on the new coach, the Lions still don't have a permanent face for their proud program.

"I just believe in keeping it quiet for the coaches [who] are interviewing and talking to us, out of respect for them,'' Joyner said during a PSU TicketCity Bowl outing at Gilley's, a famous Dallas honky-tonk.

Joyner, a former PSU offensive tackle and captain of Paterno's 1971 team, is also mindful of the approaching 2012 recruiting deadline. Feb. 1 is National Letter of Intent Day, the first time a verbal commit can sign for his scholarship.

Still, PSU's new coach is not expected to be named before the Lions (9-3) face Houston (12-1) in Monday in the Cotton Bowl.

"Purposeful, deliberate … this is the first coach search, in football, that maybe we've ever done,'' Joyner said.

"I'm not sure how things worked in 1950 and maybe 1966 but I imagine it was a lot different than what we're doing.''

Paterno became PSU's head coach in 1966 and joined then-coach Rip Engle's staff as an assistant in 1950.

Currently, PSU's 2012 verbal commitment list stands at 13 and several of those players are wavering on their commitments, uncertain about who will be coaching them and possibly uncomfortable with the child sex abuse allegations facing Sandusky, one of Paterno's most famous assistant coaches.

Said Joyner: "I'd like to get this finished so whoever the head coach is, be it Coach Bradley, be it somebody else, has enough time to interact with the [2012] recruits.''

Joyner said the committee is not done interviewing candidates and would not comment on how many candidates the committee has interviewed.

"I don't want to give you an exact number but I'll just say it's been a fair number of people,'' Joyner said, joking that "it's more than one and less than 40. How's that?''

He added: "I have people contacting me even now … [but] we're getting down the line here a bit.''

Joyner also said that the university has never gotten to the point that the committee discussed financial numbers with a candidate.

"You know, we have a very special place, it has been for a long time, and we want to continue being a special place,'' Joyner said.

"If we can get someone at the university, [someone] that reflects the values that have been at this university for a long time, and the football program in particular, then I'll feel like we've hit a home run.''

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